Story+2008-08-23+St.+Louis,+MO

“Good evening, fine citizens of St. Louis! (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Then She Kissed Me”**

“Can you feel the spirit? (crowd cheers) can you feel the spirit now? (crowd cheers) can you feel the spirit? (crowd cheers) can you feel the spirit now? (crowd cheers) can you feel the spirit? (crowd cheers) can you feeeel, feel the spirit now? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Spirit in the Night”**

“Good evening, St. Louis (crowd cheers) give me that beat, Max (Max starts drumming) alright, let’s see what you got out here…oh, that’s a good one…oh, alright…what do you got here?...oh, that’s too hard, alright…(goes “Yeah” many times and makes very brief comments on the requests)…alright, Max (Max stops, then starts the intro beat)…this is for the folks from, uh…Austin, all the way from Austin?...good Lord…one, two, three, four…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Rendezvous”**

“All the way back there…ready, Boys?...we’re gonna do this and then we’re gonna challenge the band, baby (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “For You”**

“Since we started to do some of these requests, you know, people have been getting very sassy, very, very sassy and they try to stump us with things that we played like thirty, you know, twenty-five, thirty years ago (crowd cheers) the elephant, the elephant never forgets (crowd cheers) so tonight I will challenge the band… probably challenge most of the audience too…I know, huh? what? …yes, we’ve played it, alright…(band tries the chords out briefly amongst themselves)(crowd cheers) quick rehearsal, we’re ready, we’re ready…alright, who requested this one? what do you got there? you, alright…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Mountain of Love”**

“We know that one (crowd cheers)…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Backstreets”**

“Alright…are we having fun yet, St. Louis? (crowd cheers) Miss Sophie…alright…this is a song called “Livin’ in the Future” but it’s about what’s happening now because it’s still early but it’s getting late…it’s still early but it’s getting late…along with all the things that we love…and hold dear about where we come from and all the things that we’re proud of and that give our lives meaning here, we’ve had to live with over the past eight years things like rendition and illegal wiretapping and the rolling-back of basic civil liberties… these are things that because of the color of your skin or your religion you may think don’t have a big impact on your life but they’re all direct attacks on our Constitution which means they’re attacks on ourselves as Americans…and so this is a song about sleeping through changes that when you were a little boy your mom and pop told you never happened in the United States…help me tell the story, Max…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Livin’ in the Future”**

“Oh, let’s bring it up…are you ready for a house party? (crowd cheers) are you ready for a party? (crowd cheers) Sophie, are you ready for a house party?...(chuckles) alright…[the “Are you ready?”-call-and-response-routine with the crowd] Max!...that’s what I wanna know…I wanna know if you’re ready (crowd cheers) ‘cause I wanna know if I’m ready…’cause if you’re not ready, you can’t go and if you can’t go, you can’t get there…and I wanna get there…but I can’t get there by myself (crowd cheers) you can’t get there by yourself…you’ve got to have help…and tonight I wanna get there…I wanna go down…I wanna go down to that river, to that river of life, I wanna build me a house…and I wanna make me a life …I wanna go down to that river of love and I wanna build me a house…and I wanna make me a life…I wanna go down to that river of love and I wanna build me a house…and I wanna make me some love…I wanna get down to that river of faith and I wanna build me a house and I wanna find me some faith…I wanna get down to that river of hope and I wanna build me a house and I wanna make me some hope…I wanna get down to that river of happiness…and I wanna build me a house…and I wanna make me some happiness…I wanna get down to that river of joy…and I wanna build me a house and I wanna find me some joy…but, but it’s just like this show tonight…no matter how hard the mighty E Street Band brings the power (crowd cheers) we can only take you so far…and then you’ve got to take us (crowd cheers) and (crowd cheers) because no matter how much we wanna make that joyful noise that rises up to the ears of God…we can make the music but we need you to make the noise (crowd cheers)(?)…(the “are you ready?”-call-and-response with the crowd) Max!…that’s right…now let me tell a story …let me tell my story…let me tell my story…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Mary’s Place”**

“Thank you (crowd cheers) thank you, St. Louis (crowd cheers) thank you for coming out, this is, uh…we got some friends in the hall tonight, some folks from the St. Louis Area Foodbank...St. Louis Area Foodbank, they provide food to food pantries and soup kitchen, homeless shelters with the help of hundreds of volunteers, they deliver food to thousands of people in Missouri and Illinois every week, those are folks who are out on the frontlines doing God’s work, please support the St. Louis Area Foodbank if you see them on your way out (crowd cheers) here’s for all the St. Louis girls (no much response) that’s all? where’s all the St. Louis girls? (crowd cheers) let me hear you screaming girls (crowd cheers) let me hear you screaming (crowd cheers)(intro music starts) oh, summer’s not over yet…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”**

“Thank you for coming out tonight! (crowd cheers)… (…) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and the biggest man you ever seen: Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) St. Louis! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “American Land”**

“Alright…we’ve got the hometown of Bob Costas here, am I correct? …alright, I’m gonna send this one out to Michael Phelps (chuckles) (crowd cheers) that’s right, eight golds, man, whew! (crowd cheers) I’m gonna send this one out to Michael Phelps (crowd cheers) but especially to Barbara, I hope she’s still here, Miss Barbara if you’re still here, gonna send this one out to you…” [Both NBC’s Bob Costas and Brian Williams had earlier erroneously reported that Bruce had dedicated a song to Olympic winner Michael Phelps. Later Costas had published a request, saying “Now if The Boss could just cover our butts by giving Mr. Phelps a shout-out on Thursday night in Nashville, or Saturday night in my hometown of St. Louis -- a show I’d definitely be at were I not in Beijing -- I think I'd feel a lot better.”]
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Thunder Road”**

“(?) St. Louis…here’s the last request…key of C, boys…”
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Little Queenie”**

“We love you, goodnight (crowd cheers) we gotta do one for Sophie! (crowd cheers) for Sophie!...” //[Sophie is the mother of a fan that Bruce met while in St Louis in 1980. See listing for details]//
 * 23.08.08 St. Louis, MO, intro to “Twist and Shout”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//